Posts Tagged ‘Willow Springs’

Can you guess what kind of car this is? If Mad Max drove a vintage Honda in a time attack series, is this what you would imagine his car to look like?

We were carspotting at the most recent Speed Ventures event at Streets of Willow, and saw this old school Honda with monstrous box flares, front lip spoiler and a huge front bumper. Let’s not forget the big wing up top, and the center mounted driver seat and steering wheel! (more…)

Some people get into motorsports because they think that modifying their cars with aftermarket parts will allow them to drive faster. Others prefer to invest their time and money into seat time, realizing that any car can only be driven as fast as the skill level of the driver permits. These people realize that training and practice are thereal keys to winning races - not adding more horsepower or braking to a vehicle.

Enter the B-Spec Series, an SCCA sanctioned racing class that was created for compact street-stock cars that racers could drive to and from the racetrack if they wanted. The idea was to create something similar to the SCCA Spec Miata class, with rules against hardcore modifications to equalize the playing field for the vehicles. In B-Spec competition, the ability to win races really boils down to the driver's skill and preparation.

When our friends at Mazdaspeed and Honda Performance Development invited us to attend a private track testing of their B-Spec Mazdaspeed 2 and an HPD-prepared Honda Fit, we just couldn't pass up the offer! Read more...

Drift Union‘s Shawn Browne and Logan Noël make a huge presence everywhere they go and you’re about to find out why. Their driving and style speak for themselves, so there’s no point in me trying to describe this awesome movie. With content from Canada to Southern California, this video is nothing short of amazing. Just know that if you like grassroots drifting, you will love this short film. End of story. (more…)

While you await the arrival of the awesome Formula Drift coverage we’re about to unveil, check out this trailer for the new Night Moves video from the Canadian drift team, Drift Union. Edited by Shawn Browne, the driver of the purple FC3S, with great drifting from California to Canada, this video is sure to be a hit.

To be completely honest, up until earlier this year, I knew next to nothing of KP Race. I knew it was an auto shop located somewhere in Washington (With names like Snoqualmie and Skookumchuck, the towns all seem to blend together in my mind). That was, until I received a call from a guy who goes by the name of “Victor Moore.” Hey, I’d have an alias, too, if I were him. Don’t worry, your secret’s safe with me, Tiger. Haha! Anyway, the conversation consisted of a request to travel the US with Victor, Chris Jeanneret, and Matt Brandow as they work their way up the Formula Drift Ranks in 2010. How could I resist?! Free rides all over the country and food along the way! Say no more; I’m in!

Traveling with these fine young gentlemen took me back to a simpler time in life. A time when all that mattered was having fun. A time when you jumped in a 1988 Ford Probe and drove all day, just to bomb a hill in San Francisco or skate a new park in Vancouver, BC. From late night In-N-Out runs, to shenanigans at Hooters in Long Beach, drifting was far from the best part of the journey, for me. That’s probably why I love it so much! Just like skateboarding in my younger years, drifting has given me the opportunity to meet literally hundreds of new people who share a common love.

This video documents the adventures of KP Race as they fight for the Formula Drift podium. Despite a privateer budget and terribly timed mechanical failure, these guys are always upbeat and having a good time. Don’t get me wrong, though. These guys are seriously dedicated to the sport and have the drive and motivation necessary to reach the top. Expect to see plenty more of KP Race in the 2010 season!

Here in Southern California, we’re about to begin celebrating springtime – warmer weather and sunny days, driving with your sunroof open, checking out short skirts and whatnot… but I thought we should post up this cool video, as an ode to the Summer of 2009.

The Summer of 2009 was a great one… sure, it was hot as hell, and everyone was complaining about low fundage and a slow economy… but that didn’t stop all the super hardcore, super down, super low, super dedicated drifters from all over the country from gathering at the Ziptied/JustDriftAll Star Bash in the middle of the freakin desert, California. In case you don’t know what All Star Bash is all about yet, I suggest you click this link to get an education on it. (more…)

Continuing our coverage with more photos from the ZipTied/Just Drift Summer All Star Bash this past weekend, I'd like to start off by giving props to Charlie, Mike, and everyone behind the All Star Bash! This was the biggest All Star Bash yet, and I'm sure it's just going to get bigger and bigger. There were more members of the media shooting photos and video at this event than any ASB event in the past! But media aside, this event also had more cars than any previous All Star Bash! I'm proud to see a small grassroots drifting organization like Just Drift come up on such a bad ass event, with tons of participation from drifters all over the nation! ...and I'm sure the next event will be even bigger!

And now, on to the photos... THIS IS GRASSROOTS DRIFTING! Read more...

All over the USA, this has been a pretty exciting weekend for grassroots drifting enthusiasts. On the East Coast, many of our good friends made the trek to Virginia International Raceway for the North vs South drifting competition. However, in Southern California, the hottest thing happening is definitely the Just Drift/Zip Tied All Star Bash drifting festival at Willow Springs International Raceway. I've been to many All Star Bash events in the past, but it just doesn't seem to get old for me. In fact, the more events I go to, it keeps getting better and better. In the United States, the All Star Bash is the closest you can get to the actual look and feeling of an authentic Japanese grassroots drifting event, like the legendary Drifting Matsuri events at Ebisu Circuit or the regional MSC events.

Willow Springs is in the high desert - the Mojave Desert to be exact. It's two hours north east of Los Angeles, and the summertime sun just seems to sear anyone or anything it sees. As I write this, the event is far from over! In fact, we're about to leave the hotel in a few minutes to get back to the track, where the course just went hot - literally and figuratively.

This weekend's All Star Bash was exciting because there were drivers and cars that came from all over the United States just to drift with California's best. Cars came from as far as the San Francisco Bay Area, the Pacific Northwest, Arizona, Las Vegas, Chicago, and even South Dakota! Read more...

Last weekend, we were out at the Redline Time Attack at Willow Springs International Raceway, performing a camera test. Every once in a while, we have to test different types of cameras to see what kind of footage they’re capable of producing.
This time, we were trying out a Canon HF S100 consumer level HD video camera. The camera costs less than $1000 USD, so it isn’t too expensive, and we think it’s still capable of producing pretty decent image quality – remember, the entire camera is about the size of a Campbell’s Chunky soup can! The whole point of testing these different consumer level cameras is to figure out which ones have the best image quality and features-for-the-price. Nowadays, more and more people are interested in self-producing videos for Youtube, Vimeo or Streetfire uploads; this is why we think it’s interesting to test real-world cameras that normal people can actually afford and edit using iMovie or Final Cut.
Anyway, at Willow Springs, we encountered several challenges – it was extremely difficult for the camera to focus while shooting through heat haze (on the track) and the wind presented an issue, but all in all, we think the Canon HF S100 isn’t bad for a straight-to-SD card HD video camera under $1000. However, we’ll let you watch the video and form your own opinion. What do you think?

The cars of the Redline Time Attack continue to dominate racetracks all across the country, and at the most recent Redline event at Willow Springs International Raceway, long-standing record lap times were shattered not once, but twice.

Redline Time Attack golden boy Tyler McQuarrie and his Unlimited Class carbon fiber-bodied C-West/BC Honda S2000 showed why they are a dominating force in the time attack scene by running the 2.5-mile “Big Willow” course in 1:20.454 seconds. Not only was that lap time the fastest of the day, it was the fastest ever recorded at Willow Springs International Raceway. With a lap time like that, it seemed safe to say that McQuarrie would walk away with yet another 1st place trophy.

But records, including newly set ones, are made to be broken. Billy Johnson, piloting the lime green Unlimited Class FX Motorsports/Cricket NSX ran the same Big Willow course in just 1:18.555 seconds. For those of you who hate to do math at home, that’s almost 2 seconds faster than McQuarrie. And for those who need help in the art of deductive reasoning, this also means that Johnson walked away with the new track record. But that’s not all Johnson walked away with; he also scored the first-place trophy in Redline Time Attack’s Unlimited Class.

At the end of the day, the Redline Time Attack Unlimited Class results were as follows:

1st: #5 (Johnson) FX Motosports NSX 1:18.555

2nd: #1 (McQuarrie) Cwest s2000 1:20.454

3rd: #489 (Bonarito) Sierra Sierra Evo 1:20.838

There are still seven races left in the Redline Time Attack Series, and the next event at the New Jersey Motorsports Park is just two weeks away. Be sure to check back with us later in the week for our gallery of the Redline Time Attack at Willow Springs International Raceway.